Reviews tagging 'Death'

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed by Lori Gottlieb

113 reviews

wrestleacademic's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Child abuse, Death of parent, Death, Cancer, and Emotional abuse

jesselopod's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

Beautiful and introspective, I really enjoyed how the book reflected my own experiences with therapy. The audiobook was a particularly moving listen. The author has a really great story telling quality that made it hard to stop listening to. It was one of those “I cringed, I laughed, I cried,” experiences, raw and capturing the essence of what it means to be human, and to go through the process of being vulnerable while trying to improve yourself with a stranger. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Domestic abuse, Death, Cancer, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Miscarriage, Car accident, Toxic relationship, and Suicidal thoughts

jojo_'s review against another edition

emotional informative reflective slow-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Car accident, Death, Mental illness, Child death, Domestic abuse, Grief, and Medical content

Moderate: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Misogyny

halogenl95's review against another edition

informative reflective slow-paced

4.0

Love the concept and the character development, but the writing is not as beautiful as I had hoped. 

I would not consider this a self-help book  despite what others believe. I read it more as an autobiography/fiction rather than an informative manual or motivational speech to convince you to go to therapy. It’s a very casual book but it contains deeply contemplative themes that will certainly make you reflect on your own life, and perhaps convince you to finally go to therapy after all.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death

Minor: Suicide

savvylit's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced

2.0

This book is a behind-the-scenes look at therapy from both sides of the room. The way that Gottlieb paints a complete portrait of the profession as she experiences it is one of the most compelling aspects of the book.

Ultimately, though, I'm not sure what this book was trying to achieve. Other than the behind the scenes glimpses, Maybe You Should Talk to Someone seemed to be lacking in insight. Unlike other nonfiction that I have enjoyed reading, this book felt disingenuous and had no significant takeaways. Perhaps Gottlieb's past in television is what made her composite patients seem more like exaggerated caricatures than real people. In my opinion, that's what leant this book a consistent trite and overplayed quality. 

Furthermore, at 400 pages, this book was interminable to me. I nearly set it aside for good multiple times. I really think that it was trying to be too many things at once. It was both an autobiography of Gottlieb's life and also an exploration of therapy and the importance of connection. Maybe You Should Talk to Someone would have been much more effective if it had just been about therapy. Mixing her behind-the-scenes takes with tons of background regarding her academic and career choices felt unnecessary and self-indulgent.

I would not recommend this book. Perhaps you would like it if you are intimidated to try therapy yourself and want to know more about the experience.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Grief, Toxic relationship, Death, Death of parent, and Medical content

curiousjac's review against another edition

hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective fast-paced

4.75

This book was so hopeful and made me consider exactly what I myself would would want from my therapist. It sees the humanity in even the biggest assholes. It touches you in your pain. It lets you be vulnerable. I recommend this book to anyone who has told someone that "therapy doesn't work for me". I recommend this book to anyone who is afraid to be vulnerable. At it's worst, it's an interesting study of the human condition. At it's best, it will teach you something about yourself.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Grief, Medical content, Mental illness, Cursing, Child death, and Death

yeojinqueen's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Child death, Cursing, Suicide, Terminal illness, Miscarriage, Mental illness, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Dementia, and Physical abuse

greymalkin's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

Well written, with excellent pacing and characters that are easy to get very emotionally invested in.  While some of the lessons and patient stories were just a little bit too perfectly tied together (which made them feel a little false even if they are/were real people), overall it was very enjoyable.  I really liked this insight into how a therapist might deal with the stresses of their job and personal life, and the particular niche in society that they fill.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death and Terminal illness

Minor: Child death

udari's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Cancer, Chronic illness, Grief, and Medical content

Moderate: Abandonment, Alcohol, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Alcoholism, Death, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Car accident, and Death of parent

popiloey's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Child abuse, Death, and Grief